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Management consulting refers to both the industry of, and the practice of, helping organizations improve their performance, primarily through the analysis of existing business problems and development of plans for improvement. From as early as the late 1800s, management consulting firms have been expanding their influence over the developing world. Today there are many management consultants at work deep inside many organizations. According to market research, global management consultancy market is forecast to have a value of over $300 billion by 2012.

Despite consistently high and growing revenues, management consultancy also consistently attracts a significant amount of criticism. This includes being criticized for overuse of buzzwords, reliance on and propagation of management fads, and a failure to develop plans that are executable by the client. A number of critical books about management consulting argue that the mismatch between management consulting advice and the ability of business executives to actually create the change suggested results in substantial damages to existing businesses. Although there are elements of truth to some of the critics, we believe that management consultants can are still crucial resource to deliver benefits and success for companies, as long as the relationship and expectations are correctly managed. So what separates a consulting success from a consulting disaster? We believe it is very much the effort of both the consultants and the clients we serve.

 

We feel that it is best for companies to engage consultant for a specific task and avoid carte blanche engagements. This includes setting big objectives like “world class manufacturing” or other paddling vague concepts that cannot be measured or judged. Outputs ought to be clear and not broad based diagnostics. Companies will have to remember that consultants are no substitute for vision and good management. Bringing in consultants without any clear idea of the help that is needed is a waste of time and money. Many consulting interventions ultimately fail to achieve the ends intended, because they call for the consultant to make highly subjective judgment about the complexity of the problem to be addressed before studying the problem itself. To overcome this problem, there has to be strong dialogues between the consultant and the client. Apart from recognition of the circumstances and the issues at hand, there has to be conviction from the consultant and management team on the need for the correct course of action and change. Often this requires the consultant and management team to look at observable facts and arrive at a set of shared assumptions about the future. There is a need for executive sponsorship and intimate involvement from the key stakeholders in the entire effort. Firms should also view the cost of consulting as an investment rather than a period expense.

 

Achilles believes in maintaining and sustaining long term relationship with our customers so that sufficient familiarity with each client, industry and history can allow us to make significant contribution. We do not see our consultancy as a sale, but as an alliance based on long term mutual benefits and value. We seek to deliver value by successfully achieving results more efficiently than clients would themselves; with high professional standards, being objective and possessing good domain knowledge. We advocate using scientific approach and fact driven decision making to meet the demands of each customer. We adopt a down to earth, hands-on, result oriented and tailor-made approach to our assignments. Where possible, we bring lateral thinking and creativity to challenge conventional thinking and test assumptions. Upon completion of assignments, we ensure “transfer” whereby client has ongoing capability to support the change even after the consultant has gone.